


Playing Hooky

by LegoTea



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Banter, Caught, Comedy, Cuddling & Snuggling, Deception, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Laser Tag, Playing Hooky, Post-Movie: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Pre-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Romance, Romantic Fluff, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-25
Updated: 2019-01-25
Packaged: 2019-10-12 01:11:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17457746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LegoTea/pseuds/LegoTea
Summary: Peter pretends he's sick so he and Gamora can have a day all to themselves on the ship.





	Playing Hooky

Gamora doesn’t find Peter next to her in bed, or their blanket, when she wakes, but instead finds him  moaning and groaning in the mini-kitchen on their new ship, the Benatar. (She has to admit, she feels quite proud of having named it, after one of her favorite singers on Peter’s Zune.)

She also notices the other Guardians are keeping as far away from Peter as they can without pressing up against the walls of the ship. He’s wearing his and Gamora's blanket as a cape as he coughs loudly, and tells the others to go on to the market and go shopping for supplies without him.

“What about Gamora?” Mantis asks as Rocket practically races out of the ship, with Groot toddling along after him.

“She will likely stay behind and nurse him back to health,” Drax says, checking his blades before sheathing them. “I would have done the same for Hovat, if she had ever fallen ill.”

“That’s very kind of you, Drax,” Gamora says, giving Peter a wide berth as she walked around him, “But I....”

“Fortunately, she was in peak health for as long as I knew her.... Until....” Drax trails off, and the room falls silent until he glances at Gamora. “I don’t envy you, though. If this is a sign of Quill’s constitution without his Celestial powers, you’ll have a long road ahead of you.”

“Hey!” Peter cries out, then doubles over in another coughing fit.

“GoodbyePeterIhopeyoufeelbetter!” Mantis calls out in a rush, fleeing as quickly as she can. Drax nods at Gamora with an expression of sympathy, then follows Mantis off the ship.

Gamora turns back to Peter, who’s straightening back up and giving her a very similar look that Groot does when he wants extra candy, and knows that if he makes just the right face, he’ll be given it.

“Fine,” she sighs, as the docking bay closes behind Drax. “What do you need that’ll help you feel better, Peter?”

“Oh, nothing,” he replies, the thickness in his voice now gone. He flings off the blanket and stands before her, looking completely healthy. “Especially now that we’ve got the ship all to ourselves! Haha, I knew it’d work!”

Gamora puts her palm up to her forehead, and groaning. “I should’ve known this was just a trick.”

“C’mon, Gamora,” he says, hurrying over to her and putting his arms around her waist. She doesn’t bat him away but glares reproachfully at him. “Haven’t you ever played hooky before?”

“If this is another one of your sexual metaphors....” she warns, but he bursts into laughter.

“Nah, it means that you skip school. Or in this case, going on some boring errand run.”

“I thought you like getting supplies,” Gamora points out. He’s always in his element when he’s haggling a shopkeeper.

“Yeah, but it’s been weeks since we got to hang out alone. It’s about time we got to have some fun by ourselves!”

He’s still got his arms around her, swaying to a silent melody.

Gamora keeps staring up at him. His eager expression is much more preferable to him coughing and being miserable, she thinks. And she would much rather spend time with him without having to feed him soup, or give him medicine.

“Oh, all right,” she says, and he cheers. She puts her hand on his chin, directing him to look back at her. “But first, we’re cleaning the blanket.”

He nods. “Yes, ma’am.”

 

After washing the blanket (thank goodness Rocket devised a portable fabric cleaner they could use on the ship) Gamora instructs Peter to clean the dirty dishes while she checks the ship’s log for potential missions and distress calls. She can’t leave those things to languish in good conscious.

To her surprise, he tackles the dishes in the small kitchen without an air of complaint, and Gamora flips through the log while she calls the Nova Corps for a check-in on emergency calls. She’s half-relieved, half-disappointed that no one’s in dire need of the Guardians’ assistance. Though it’s good to know that there isn’t any present danger, she likes being on a mission, working, and helping others.

The log nearly proves just as fruitless, but there is one mission the Guardians could handle in two days’ time. She accepts it, then turns to see Peter proudly standing next to the sparkling sink and dishes, flipping the rag over his shoulder.

“Peter,” she says, unable to keep the awe out of her voice. “You cleaned the entire area!” It looks spotless, even by her high standards.

“Well, y’know,” he says, waggling his brows. “Work hard, play hard.”

“And what do you suggest we do for ‘play?’” she asks, having an idea for where the conversation is going next.

His smile grows wider.

 

 

Gamora opens the door to the cockpit and brandishes her weapon, scanning the entire area.

There’s no movement in her line of sight, until....

“Gotcha!”

Gamora ducks and neatly rolls forward, in the narrow aisle between the co-pilot seats.

Peter jumps up in the bottom level of the cockpit, raising his gun and just barely missing her.

Gamora nimbly jumps up, leaping over the step to the lower level, and squeezes the trigger of her gun.

A bright blinking light lands right on Peter’s forehead as he gasps, collapsing over onto her seat.

“Ahh.... You might have defeated me, but you’ll never win the war,” he drawls, and she can’t hide a smirk as she straddles him on her chair.

“The dead don’t speak, Peter,” she reminds him, tapping his nose with the tip of her finger.

He scrunches his face reflexively, then mumbles, “Oh, yeah,” and closes his eyes, sticking out his tongue as he lets his limbs go limp.

She laughs and his eyes pop open as he smiles up at her. “See? Isn’t this more fun than having to keep Rocket from blowing up a store?”

“It’s definitely less stressful,” Gamora admits.

“Wanna watch Back to the Future now?” he asks.

“In a minute.” She leans over to kiss him, enjoying the dazed, content look that comes over him.

 

 

They cuddle up together in bed, under their freshly washed and dried blanket, watching the Earth movie on the holo screen hanging on the far wall. Peter had been overjoyed beyond words when he discovered the video file in some junker shop on Xandar a year ago. 

Gamora has already seen the movie, three times in fact, but she enjoys the story, as the Marty McFly reminds her of Peter. He is more handsome than Marty, but she won’t tell him that because she doesn’t want to overinflate his head.

“I knew it!” Rocket cries out, and the door to their bedroom opens, revealing the Guardian in the doorway, their arms filled with food, weapons, and clothing, all matching sets to what the Guardians normally wear.  “You weren’t sick at all!”

“Yeah, not so much,” Peter admits, and Gamora raises her brows, surprised that he’s not even putting up a fight. He turns to look at her and shrugs. “Hey I got one of the best days of my life with the most beautiful woman in the galaxy,” he says. “I’m not gonna pretend it wasn’t awesome.”

She can’t help but smile at that.

“Next time, you should just let us know you’d rather stay here instead of coming along with us,” Mantis says, looking more disappointed than Gamora expected. Her smile falters.

Drax folds his arms across his chest. “Yes, if you don’t want to spend time with us, you could have just said so!”

“I am Groot!” the toddler sized tree adds sternly, copying Drax and glaring at them.

“We’re sorry,” Gamora says, and then nudges Peter.

“Yeah, that was my fault, you guys,” he says quickly. “But on the bright side, Gamora found us another mission while you were all out!”

“She did?” Rocket asks curiously.

“Yes, and Peter cleaned the whole kitchen area,” Gamora offers. She and Peter wait for the rest of the group to turn around, and everyone but Rocket makes a similar response of surprise.

“It looks wonderful, Peter!” Mantis says, clapping excitedly.

“No sweat.”

“Yeah, okay, you got off easy this time,” Rocket says rolling his eyes. “But next time you play the sick card, I’m gonna need to see a doctor’s note.”

“Not gonna need it,” Peter says, putting his arm around Gamora. “S’long as Gamora’s with me, I’m all set to go.”

She should be annoyed at his cheesiness, but she’s so content, especially after their wonderful day together, she puts her head on his shoulder and he kisses the top of her head.

“Ugh,” Rocket mutters, “You two make _me_ sick,” and the rest of the Guardians back out of the room quickly so he can close the door.

“Sorry,” Peter tells Gamora as he rubs her arm, “I should’ve just been honest.”

“It’s all right,” Gamora says, “You made up for it. And for the record,” she adds before leaning up to kiss him. “I’ll never get sick of you.”


End file.
